Supermarket Alcoholics.
What’s your name again?
I just HAD to take a picture of this ladies name that was on bbc London news. Em and I both had a giggle.
It Wasn’t Just Children Who Were “In Need”!
Shambolic is the only word that could describe this years Children In Need. And why the hell should I be made to feel guilty for not donating when Terry Wogan can command 1500 pounds an hour for his hosting “skills”. The man is crap! He behaved as if drunk. If wasn’t taking his cues properly. He was making weird “off the cuff” remarks. He was amateurish at best.
Most of the acts were throw away. The cast of Eastenders doing Beatles songs. The Spice Grans MIMING their new single “Headlines” which sounds more like they are singing “hairlines” to me. Not 5 minutes into the show, the new Joseph lost sound on his mic when performing “Any Dream Will Do”. The sound problems continued all night. It WAS awful! I’ll never get those 7 hours back! For those of you wondering what the hell I’m talking about. Children In Need is sort of like an old style telethon in which a load of “entertaining” bits of TV are put together to get people to watch and donate money. It’s put on by the BBC each November. For more info in to: www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey
I Tell Ya, It’s Political Correctness Gone Mad!
Oh my Lord! What is the world coming to when Santa’s can’t “Ho, ho, ho” any more?!
Australian Santa’s have been told to no longer “Ho, ho, ho”.Read the story here.
HAPPY Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving. Sounds like everything I love about Xmas, only without the presents…as far as I know. I’m not up on Thanksgiving history/culture.
It does seem odd that in such a God-fearing country as America is, a lot more people seem to put more emphasis on Thanksgiving than on Xmas. As far as I know, it is when the turkey dinner is traditionally eaten, not as it is in Europe and in particular Britain when it’s at Xmas. Families seem to try harder in the U.S. to be together for Thanksgiving. People don’t feel pressured into exchanging presents, as we do with ever increasing financial strain, year after year at Xmas. Lastly, it doesn’t seem to be an overtly religious event (despite it being called Thanksgiving – IE: giving thanks to God – I assume – for a plentiful bounty and all the “good things” in our lives), despite the name of the holiday. I wish we had Thanksgiving in England. But then, maybe not. I do love some of the aspects of Xmas. I think the time of year is better. It’s just that little bit later into winter. Not so ideal for shopping, but lovely for Xmas eve and Xmas day, sitting around the fire, having lovely, big and hot meals that make you feel like you’ve put on 10 pounds in 1 hour! I love Xmas decorations, trees, garlands, wreaths. As a kid I use to LOVE making paper chains! And of course, although I rarely get them these days, I LOVE the presents. I love sending cards. And although some are religious, and although I’ve been a total hypocrite and been to church a few years back to enjoy them, I LOVE Xmas carols and Xmas songs. We have a church not 5 minutes walk away, and we went in 2005 for the carol service. But it was really lovely. It’s a non-domination church, and it was quite liberal (as churches go), not doing lots of preaching and stuff. It was a really nice service, and we all sang carols. It was lovely. As much as I love Xmas though, there are things that are overbearing about it. The compulsion to buy presents. The more expensive, the better. And the relentless ad campaigns that go with it. I mean, it’s in full swing on TV (and all other media) now. The supermarkets started filling their shelves with Xmas themed food weeks ago. I haven’t been in a supermarket for about 6 weeks (last visit, early October), but the last time I went, there was already stock on the shelf. The campaigns on TV will just get more and more manic. Soon the Xmas songs will start (mostly in shops and that, so I have been spared so far, as I really don’t get out much these days), and so by the time Xmas day comes, you’ve heard “White Christmas” at least 50 times (subliminally, and non-subliminally), Slade’s “Merry Xmas Everybody” about 100 times, and the new favourite for “playing to death”… The Pogues “Fairytale of New York” what feels like 500 times, but is in reality probably only 150 times!! Supermarkets start to look like we’re heading for The Blitz at around December 18, and if you’ve missed something off the shopping list and don’t remember it until Xmas eve, you might just want to write out your last will and testament before heading off to the supermarket for that last vital thing, because you may just die there, waiting in the queue! One last thing that I use to hate about Xmas as a kid. The only thing in fact. Australia. I HATED living in Australia at Xmas. Xmas in the northern hemisphere looked SSOO lovely. And all the stories whilst growing up were all northern hemisphere biased. All the little things like Santa arriving by coming down the chimney! HEEEELLLLOOOO…no house in Oz that *I* ever knew of had a chimney. How was Santa ever going to leave our presents? Break in through a window? Then of course there was the sleigh and the reindeer. Rudolph with his shiny red nose. Not because it was minus 10 degrees in Oz, but because it was more like bloody 25 degrees on Xmas eve NIGHT! Silent Night? Silent night…on a tropical evening in Sydney?! Doubt it!! The one nice thing that Oz has for Xmas though is Carols by Candlelight…outdoors! That’s nice. Although, again, traditional carols are a bit northern hemisphere/wintery themed. Very odd to sing “Winter Wonderland” on a summer’s evening in 25 degree heat! I really do love my winter Xmases though. They are the best. So, happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. Xmas, the steam train, moves ever closer.It’s Only Hair!
“But I liked it!”, replies the attention-seeking, recalcitrant no-mark. Another “victim” of Celebrity Scissorhands. If you have no experience of this programme, it’s about training a group of “celebrities” (I put them in commas because unless you live in the UK and have no life “HELLO” – waves hands in the air – you will probably not have heard of ANY of these so-called celebrities) to become hairdressers/beauty therapists with around 13 years experience in just 3 weeks.
It’s all for charity. The BBC’s annual fund-raising event which is broadcast each November, called Children In Need. Last year on the night, the celebrities that remained in training styled the hair of the people taking part in Children In Need that night. This year they will be taking part in a hairdressing “show-down” where they will be performing styles in front of a panel of hairdressing and celebrity judges. The best is crowned “Celebrity Scissorhands Hairdresser of the Year 2007”. Nine “celebrities” are taking part with the assistant to head hairdresser (and trainer) Lee Stafford, being last year’s favourite, Steve Strange (of 80’s pop icons Visage). All the celebs are to train in all aspects of hairdressing and beauty therapy. So they’ll be doing anything from cutting and styling hair, to waxing, to massage, body wraps, facials, manicures and pedicures…everything. Members of the general public apply online to go into the salon to be “clients” of the celebrities. You can state your preference between having your hair cut, to having a beauty treatment, or an entire makeover. Obviously the hair cuts are the best entertainment. The celebs start cutting on day one, with absolutely NO pre-training, just a very basic “this is how you hold the scissors and this is how you make a cut” approach, and off they go! Baring this in mind, can anyone explain to me WHY someone would apply to this programme IF they are SO precious about their hair? It must be to get on TV, as there would be no other reason if you are that uptight about it. On day one, Ben Nicholas (Stingray off Neighbours) cut a ladies hair and she was getting really pee-d off. She said he’d made her “look like a boy” and so STEVE STRANGE (if you happened to watch last year, you’ll know why I put this in capitals) was sent to rectify what “butchering” Ben had caused. Trust me, the last person you want to touch your hair if it has already been butchered is Steve Strange! Suffice to say, Steve tried to “salvage” the job and for a change didn’t do too badly. But anyway, it’s FOR BLOODY CHARITY! So, you’re a big-headed love-me-do, but, you know you just happen to have a charitable side (that shines through most while you have your mug to TV it just so happens). You’re happy to apply to CS for a hair cut, because you know it’s for charity and you’ll raise some money for Children In Need. Until you’re at the salon, when Steve Strange approaches you and you rather hypocritically start to panic. You then start to forget about the little 2 year-old girl sleeping on the streets of Malawi you’re meant to be there to help because Steve has just left a big V-shaped gap in your hair. GET OVER IT! How pathetic do you look, obsessing about your hair when some child you are meant to be there for is being abused by their father while you’re there crying into your own hands because your hair looks funny. GET A GRIP!! I love the show, but why oh why do the people that end up on there get SSOO worked up about their hair? One lady, obviously wonderfully charitable, raised £5,000 to have her hair cut on the show, but was visibly unhappy with her cut. I mean, take it on the chin! You raised 5K’s! Shouldn’t you be happy? I’d be wrapped to be “Stranged” (as Steve’s cuts have come to be known). It would be a unique cut for one! Just friggin’ live with it! It’s only hair after all.Name a type of bean?
[youtube=http://youtu.be/kLZTlsgOdXY]
I watched this last night on TV. Thank GOD, someone put this up on You Tube. This is just brilliant. It’s from Family Fortunes (otherwise known as Family Feud elsewhere in the world).
Can you name another type of bean that ISN’T a baked bean?
If this face greeted YOUR marriage proposal, what would YOU think?
This was the face that greeted the character Pepper on neighbours when she asked Adam to marry her. NICE! What would you think if you were greeted with this face?
Anyway, it transpires that although Pepper is quite “into” Adam, she proposed purely for “marriage of convenience” purposes, to help him able to stay in Australia. NAUGHTY!Why ‘Antipodean – The Right Side Up’?
I was sitting around waiting for my turn on the Internet (yes, we are a one computer household – although I can write posts via my mobile phone) watching Em reading RSS feeds of blogs when I was noticing that most peoples blogs have “catchy” names, whereas I had the rather bland “Larelle’s Blog”. I was wondering what made these people choose a somewhat obscure name for their blog and so I thought to myself “what kind of ‘catchy’ title would I use for my blog?”. I use to stick with “Larelle’s Blog” because I was worried people who visit wouldn’t realise it was my blog, but the people who are coming to my blog from www.larelle.co.uk SHOULD know it’s me, so I thought “why not”! And so here’s what I came up with “Antipodean – The Right Side Up”. Don’t ask me why. I was just sitting there still waiting my turn, and it came into my head. I just like the word Antipodean (and that’s what us Aussies and Kiwis get called in the UK). I also thought that although I am Antipodean, I’m now (metaphorically) the right side up. I suppose I could’ve went for something inane like “Down Under Girl” or “Upside Down Girl”…but I wanted something arty-farty.
Euromillions! 100 in fact…
I nearly forgot! I nearly forgot to put my entry in. It was only a story about it on the BBC news web site today that reminded me of it. The jackpot stands at an estimated £100 million! I can’t even put that into context, so the BBC tried. They say on their web site, that figure would buy any of these:
- 1.6 James Bond films (making-of)
- 2.2 paintings like Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer II, which sold for £45 million this week
- 3 private 2,000 acre islands in the Grenadines in the Caribbean
- 454 Roll Royce Phantoms
- 67,000 nights in a suite at the Burj Al Arab 7* star hotel in Dubai (that’s 183 years worth!)
- A days food for 250 million people in the 3rd world.
It’s mind-blowing! I’ve just put my entry in, so fingers well and truly crossed. I don’t think I’ll be buying 2 paintings or 454 rollers with it though. It would be lovely to do something more akin to the item on the bottom of the list. I wrote it as the list appears on the beeb. Sadly I think most greedy people in the world would put being philanthropic with the money way down the list. I might not extend my generosity to THAT degree, as I would want some of the money for myself and my family. But I would definitely NOT keep £100 million to myself! I would probably use 1/4 to 1/3 of the money for me and my family, then do good deeds with the rest. I mean, you think 1/4 of that some would be £25 mil! That would be more than enough for me and my family. I would only want a few for myself. I think any more than £3 million I’d probably struggle to spend it. I have one sister and three brothers, then all my nieces and nephews (11). One niece has a son and my other nieces and nephews will have families in time. Then there’s Em side of the family – her parents and brother.
I could dream spending it all day! That’s the kind of thing I’d like to do though. Not just piss off to some private island and live like a millionaire, I’d want to do good with it. Splash it around – in the right way!